The Snake and the Crane - Jason Balistreri - Bog

A street artist in Chicago decides to quit his programming job to pursue being an artist as a career despite a string of smaller shows which garnered little interest. He meets a wealthy gallery owner named Michelle Werner and, after a show at her prominent gallery in the city, critics and journalists begin to notice him but he's not sure if he can cut it in the world of high art. He loses control and realizes that maybe what he sought was all just a lie, success in the art world seems superficial and once he loses his anonymity, his life continues to spiral down both physically and mentally. It is a world where few can be trusted and Mads realizes the machine may chew him up like it has so many others.